One
might say the Metropolitan Pavilion, home to the second annual
Coffee & Tea Festival NYC, was really buzzing
on April 28th & 29th. Was it because the festival attendees
were hyped-up on caffeine from sampling too many different coffees
and teas? Or was it because of the Better Than Sex tea samples
being poured by Tay Tea? Or both?

Attendees
enjoyed sampling many different coffees and teas from around the
globe, for sure. They loved the informative
lectures on coffee cupping, matcha, creating the perfect espresso,
and afternoon tea etiquette.They loved meeting the author
of Tasting Club, Dina Cheney and the author of The Teahouse
Fire, Ellis Avery. They also
l-o-v-e-d Better Than Sex tea.While walking around the
festival you couldn’t help but hear people whisper “have
you tried that better than sex tea?”

What
is "better than sex" tea? It is a Rooibos blend with
organic farm-grown peppermint, marigold petals, and bits of Belgian
dark chocolate. Delightful as a dessert tea, this tea is 100% caffeine
free and packed with 50 times more anti-oxidants than Green Tea!
It was created by artisanal tea blender Nini Ordoubadi of Tay Tea. “Better
Than Sex was the most requested sample at my booth. I ran out the
first day and had to restock quickly,” said Ordoubadi. Totally
satisfying and uniquely delicious, the taste of this tea is almost
mystical, some might say magical. Nini takes the time to
get the blending just right to create a wonderful and satisfying
sensation in every cup.

TAY,
the oldest word for tea in Chinese, is a company
that specializes in creating an exclusive line of hand-blended artisanal
teas. Founded by tea blender Nini Ordoubadi in 2003, this New
York-based company only uses ingredients that
are 100% natural, organic or wild-crafted. Many of the herbs and
botanicals that are used to blend the teas are grown on Nini’s
organic farm in upstate New York. “My tea blends are complex
and layered. Some have as many as fourteen elements" said Ordoubadi.
TAY’s
signature teas enhance any lifestyle and invite one to embark on
the timeless ritual of drinking tea.

Check out the beautiful collection of teas at www.taytea.com. While
there you’ll find another best-seller, Persian Rose (Nini’s
signature tea, her first blend, and her personal favorite.)

This tea is an absolute must for anyone in love with black tea and
roses. A nostalgic blend of ceylon bergamot-scented tea blended with
organic rosepetals and rosebuds, green cardamom and borage. It is a
perfect afternoon tea. (www.taytea.com)

Tay Tea and Nini Ordoubadi will be featured in the August issue of
"Everyday with Rachel Ray." Watch for it. It hits newsstands
mid-July.

Grassy.
Muddy. Spicy. These are not words commonly used by average coffee
lovers to describe their morning coffee, but they are extremely
important terms when used by trained professionals in a coffee
cupping.

In
order to fully understand the minor differences between coffee
growing regions from around the world, it is important to taste
the coffee side-by-side. According to the Specialty Coffee Association
of America (SCAA), “cupping is a method of systematically evaluating
the aroma and taste of coffee beans. It is often used by growers,
buyers and roasters to assess the quality of a particular coffee
sample.” The process requires the cuppers to adhere to
an exacting set of brewing standards and a formal step-by-step evaluation.

Similar
to wine tasting, cupping allows the participant to evaluate and
compare different coffees and their characteristics. According
to industry professionals, a trained cupper generally looks at six
characteristics:

Fragrance --
the smell of beans after grinding

Aroma --
the smell of ground-up beans after being steeped in water

Taste -- the flavor of the coffee

Nose -- the vapors released by the coffee in
the mouth

Aftertaste -- the vapors and flavors that remain
after swallowing

Body -- the feel of the coffee in the mouth

Rarely
seen in public, attendees at the 2nd annual Coffee & Tea
Festival NYC had an experience that they will never forget. A
few lucky audience members were selected to participate in a coffee
cupping led by Marcela Zuchovicki from Jalima Coffee and Patrick
Spillman from Fresh Direct. During this cupping, the participants
received instruction on how to evaluate several different coffees
from around the world, including: Columbia, Mexico, Ethiopia,
Nicaragua, Yemen, and Indonesia.

If you
are interested in learning more about this topic, check out The
Basics of Cupping by Ted Lingle or Cupping 101 on DVD.
Both are available at www.scaa.org.

Simple
gravity animates a twist of electrical wire and chain to become
a pouring liquid in the viewer's mind. With
both precision and whimsy, artist/architect Eric Sternfels skillfully
creates a unique yet functional art piece out of vintage components. “I
create these pieces not just to amuse those who see them, but to
steer focus onto the handsome form and design of the everyday vessels
of bygone days,” said Sternfels.

Orphaned
cups and kettles, percolators and plates are joined into harmonious
tableaus of American domesticity. The results are curiously both
classic and funky. The lighting is at home in both traditional
and contemporary spaces.

Sternfels' work springs from a sense that inanimate
objects possess their own soul and history. When speaking about the
pieces he collects for his work, the artist believes the energy of
those that designed or made them, of those that have used and enjoyed
them, and of those that now take the time to see them again in new
light all collaborate to give us pleasure and satisfaction.

Perhaps
this philosophy was born when, as a young boy, Eric was given the
household chore of dusting the bookshelves and china cabinets.
After swiping a dust cloth around the objects, his mother explained
that each thing must be picked up and dusted as well. And to emphasize
the care with which these special items needed to be handled, she
methodically told him the history of each cup, saucer, candlestick
and bookend. Whether about where or how the objects were made,
or who had given or purchased these objects, Eric had a new appreciation
for what had previously been "the Untouchables" in
the family living room.

Mr.
Sternfels received a Masters degree in Architecture from the University
of Pennsylvania. While there refined his design skills and developed
his historical perspective on patterns and styles. In Eric's view,
the making of Architecture--like his collages and light sculptures--requires
the skillful blending of carefully selected components into compositions
that delight and satisfy us. He
currently resides in Philadelphia where he lives in an historic
mill worker’s home (ca. 1840) and works in a renovated textile mill
(ca. 1880) with dozens of professional and amateur artists and craftsmen.

In
addition to the creative lighting designs, Eric is also about to
launch a line of coffee and tea themed note cards. You
can view his work at his online gallery: www.pourtensious.com.
Eric’s
talent is amazing and his artwork is truly “tea lightful”.

Wonder
where the company name came from? Mr.
Sternfels entitled his lighting business "Pourtensious" to
describe the essential inspiration that makes his sculptures so unique:
The pouring illusion of the electrical wire literally hangs
together with the tension of the supporting chain. Furthermore,
Eric couldn't resist the pun derived from the word portentous, one
of whose dictionary meanings is "amazing; prodigious".
When visiting his website, you'll note the artist delight in identifying
all his fixtures with punny names such as "Steeping Beauty" or "Ceylon
Chainy, Jr."

On May
19, 2007 the biggest names in the craft beer industry will gather
for a tasting event at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale,
NY to celebrate American Craft Beer Week. According to the Brewers
Association, “American Craft Beer
Week (May 14-20, 2007) is designated as a time for all legal-drinking-age
Americans to explore and celebrate the flavorful beverages produced
by our small, traditional and independent brewers.”

Like
specialty coffee and tea producers, craft brewers are innovative,
independent, and passionate about their product. Craft brewers
mix historic styles with unique twists to develop brand new styles—producing
flavorful beers that combine classic European recipes with bold
American innovation.

More
than 50 craft beer industry leaders, including many local favorites,
will be on hand for the Spring Craft Beer Festival on May 19th,
among them: Brooklyn Brewery, Blue Point Brewing Company, Southampton,
Stone, Dogfish Head, Crop Circle, John Harvard’s Brew House,
Kelso of Brooklyn, and Sam Adams.

“America’s small brewers are part of a movement, a shift in consciousness,
and the trading up of what beer people drink,” stated Julia Herz, a spokesperson
for the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association for America’s
small brewers. “American Craft Beer Week will highlight craft brewers
and the beer drinkers that support this grassroots effort.”

- Book Buzz -Afternoon Tea:
Tips, Terms and Traditions Written
by Ellen Easton

Red Wagon Press announces the newest book by Ellen Easton

Pinkies
up? Gloves on or off? What
is the proper way to eat a scone?

In
this user friendly compendium for both the novice and experienced
tea drinker alike, you’ll
find: how to’s, etiquette, FAQs about afternoon tea,
serving styles, tea and silver, tea time checklist and so much
more.